People always laugh when I compare weddings to final playoffs for a sports team. Not very romantic they say. I know, but think of it. All the players depend on each other. They have played with each other so much that they know what to expect from each other and also know what the others are capable of. So really all your wedding vendors are like the players in that final playoff tournament game and your wedding planner is the coach. So when thinking about it that way, would you put a player in that hasn’t played with any of this team or proved exactly what he/she can do? (Even if it is your favorite relative, that just wants to do something nice for you)
I think there is a big misunderstanding in the wedding world. I think some people believe when we are requiring they use preferred vendors from a list, that there is some sort of quid pro quo, or some sort of monetary kickback. I can not speak for other planners, but at The French Bee we emphatically do not. We choose vendors for our list based on performance only. We expect excellence from ourselves and work with other like minded vendors.
Another value of using preferred vendors, is that we have worked with them so much, that we know what client and vendor makes a good fit. Hence, why we ask so many different questions in our first budget and design meeting. I would not use a photographer, that likes very formal pictures for a couple who want a very relaxed feel at their wedding, I would recommend another one that fits their style. I also would not recommend a cater, that doesn’t like working the venue the couple has chosen. So how is a couple, who have not worked in the wedding world, to know all of those details. The answer is, they do not.
So why spend hours and hours pouring over reviews and still choosing the incorrect vendor, because of the fit between the two of you, when you do not have to?
I don’t mean to imply that we never use new vendors. We love finding new talent! Sometimes the client will have their heart set on a particular vendor, or require a special service that we need to find a specific vendor but before we can recommend them to a client, we have to do a lot of research. We get recommendations from past clients. We also get recommendations from other people in the wedding industry. We will always have a long chat with the perspective vendor and try to find out what they are all about. We never would want to overlook talents that we haven’t used before. We are so lucky to live in North Carolina, where there are so many different creatives in the wedding industry.
So hopefully I have helped untangle the confusion about preferred vendors. Do you not thing that on one of the most important days in your life, that you would want a proven, successful team? I know I would!!